


New Year's 2047

by applecameron



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: M/M, Physical Disability, past death of major characters, past mental disability of major characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-14 00:06:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9148135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/applecameron/pseuds/applecameron
Summary: I purposefully chose "Not To Use Archive Warnings" because I thought "major character death" as a warning was too strong, and would make readers think I'm graphically killing off characters in the course of the narrative as opposed to their deaths occurring as a natural outgrowth of their having lived. The story is set a minimum of 30 years after Inception, at least some characters should be dead by then, and their deaths are reflected on as past events, in a rather contemplative way.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I purposefully chose "Not To Use Archive Warnings" because I thought "major character death" as a warning was too strong, and would make readers think I'm graphically killing off characters in the course of the narrative as opposed to their deaths occurring as a natural outgrowth of their having lived. The story is set a minimum of 30 years after Inception, at least some characters should be dead by then, and their deaths are reflected on as past events, in a rather contemplative way.

Enough years had passed that Eames had hired a buff young man to help Arthur with his wheelchair, not being able to do it himself anymore. Ariadne watched as the neatly dressed assistant accepted Arthur's arms around his neck and hoisted him up, Eames darting in to steal a kiss in his usual quest to make Arthur blush, and got him situated into the car, something expensive-looking and low-slung. 

Ariadne watched them leave, Eames leaning over from his seat to offer her a final, cheeky grin and wave with his good arm. Arthur's smile was smaller, and he touched his fingers to the window at her. She raised her hand to them both. The neurological effects of long-term Somnacin use had taken their heaviest toll on the earliest entrants into dreamshare. Arthur had transitioned to the wheelchair after endless years of crutches and talk of placing computer chips in his spinal column that went nowhere. 

The price they'd all paid wasn't measured solely in the degradation of the body, but in media furor, and endless rounds of Congressional hearings for the Americans among them (Saito had given a major speech to the Diet in favor of cautious legalization, but never openly admitted any involvement, and his estate was stingy with release of any of his papers save what was eventually published as three volumes of exquisite poetry), anti-terrorism task forces from nations all over, Europol, Interpol, and (on one notable occasion) the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights. 

Eventually, the scandal had faded, as scandal does, leaving behind a basket of symptoms such as palsy, chronic pain, partial or complete paralysis, memory formation problems, plaque build-up not unlike that of Alzheimer's but not like, either, overactive immune system responses, rheumatoid arthritis, epilepsy, and in Ari's case, a series of frightening tumors that kept coming up benign, so far. 

Dom's hair was mostly missing and his short-term memory had turned to swiss cheese before he died of heart failure, his children holding his hands as he lay in his hospital bed. Yusuf, grandfather many times over by the time he died, had stayed the healthiest, through, he claimed at the time, liberal application of LSD, until one afternoon he sat down and watched Manchester United kick the stuffing out of someone, messaged his eldest son, "good game, all done, b good," and simply closed his eyes. 

Eames still painted. Professionally, now. Just, left-handed. 


End file.
